Monday, August 8, 2016

Soari and Lady's Baptism!!

Another week come and gone. Yesterday I completed 19 months!!! WHAT!?!?!?!? Time is just flying by. My companion is going home on
Monday! He's pretty excited.

Congrats Jackson and Vanessa on starting High School. That is
crazy that they are giving them chrome books. I guess everything is getting tech
now. Jenna...you are so grown up now. You're going to college, and you're
working. Keep yourself busy until I get home....then we'll
party!!!

Dad....congrats on the new calling. I will definitely help you
out on the high adventure stuff. I miss camping. You are going to do awesome!
Mom...keep up the great work that you are doing. I know it can be stressful
working two jobs and being mom....but you can do it. Sorry about the lack of
pictures...my camera is not working right now. I think it is from the heat. The
pictures come out striped.....it's weird. My companion doesn't have a camera, so
I have to wait for members to pass me pictures. I'll try to get some sent this
week.

This week was amazing. Once again I was a witness of the
miracles that are given to us from our Heavenly Father.

So....this week we were focusing on Soari's baptism. It was
planned for Wednesday and we were super excited for it. We were cleaning the
baptismal font with our ward mission leader on Wednesday morning when we got a
call from Lady (Soari's mom). She was very angry and told us that her daughter
was not going anywhere that day. I guess they were fighting, so mom said no. We
were shocked...and we tried to visit them, but she told us that she did not want
to see us that day. So we canceled the baptism and planned to visit them the
next day. On Thursday, when we went to visit them, I started talking to Lady.
She shared with me that she felt very guilty because she didn't let her daughter
get baptized. she asked me how she could get rid of that guilt. I told her that
she should ask forgiveness and she should let her get baptized on Saturday. she
said that she would, but in that moment...Soari did not want to get baptized
anymore. We went home that night very confused and sad. I prayed so hard that
night, that we would be able to find a solution to all of the problems that have
been happening with this family, and I asked for His help. On Friday morning, we
were in zone class, when we got a phone call from Lady. We ran outside to
answer, and she told us that she had very good news. She said ''Cavenee and
Mendez, can Soari get baptized tomorrow?'' We were like ''totally'' and then she
told us that she also wanted to be baptized. Elder Mendez and I both fell into
shock. We stood there looking at each other...smiling and crying, while Lady was
waiting on the other end for an answer. we told her or course she could. She
told us ''I am tired of being sad all the time. I want a new start''. They were
both baptized on Saturday. In their baptism, we asked Yajaira (Lady's other
daughter that was baptized a couple weeks ago) to share her testimony. she stood
up and said ''Today I am super happy...because now we can be together forever''.
Lady and Soari both stood up to hug her and they stayed there crying for like
five minutes. Everyone was crying!

Baptism of Lady and Soari

On Sunday afternoon we were sitting in their house talking
with them. Asking them how they feel now. Lady started crying...she took Elder
Mendez and I by the hand...and thanked us from the bottom of her heart. It
touched my heart...and once again we were all crying. Lady left behind basically
her entire life for her baptism. She overcame addictions, and quit her job. She
has changed so much. And in that moment, I could see that she had hope in her
eyes. Hope for a better future with her daughters. She cried to us telling us of
the four best days of her life. 1 and 2 when her daughters were born, 3 when we
showed up at their door asking if we could teach something, and 4 her baptism
day. That is what makes it all worth it. Being a missionary is not easy...but
those moments like what happened on Sunday, make it all worth it. I love that
family and I am so grateful that the Lord sent me here in these moments so that
I could witness the miracle that He worked in their lives. I LOVE being a
missionary. I'm crying while writing this. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real
and can change any part of peoples lives. It works miracles every day of our
lives.

On Friday we had a great zone class. We talked about how we
can make our mission, a mission of miracles. Have those amazing experiences
every day. President came as well. It was nice to see him. We also found out
that we are now allowed to use sunglasses!!! Wooohooo!!

This week a Hurricane came through the Gulf, so we had rain
from Tuesday to Friday. It was great to have some cool weather for a little. But
from Friday until now it has been even hotter because all of the water that fell
in the rain is evaporating. It is super hot right now.

Anyways...I am doing super well, and am very excited for my
last week with elder Mendez. We are looking at maybe two more baptisms this
week. We'll see though.